Improvement in magazine fire-arms



H. W. HAYDEN- MAGAZINB FIRBARM.

NO. 56.989. Patented Aug. 7, 1866.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM W. HAYDEN, OF WATERBURY, GONNGTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

Spccification forniin g part of Letters Patent No. 56.939.,-dated August7, 1866; antedatcd August 3, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM W. HAYDEN, of Waterbury, in the county of NewHaven and State of Oonnecticut, have invented, made, and applied to usea certain new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms; andIdo hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the said invention, reference being had to the annexeddrawing, making part of this specification, wherein-f Figure 1 is alongitudinal section of my iinproved fire-arm. Fig. 2 is a plan of thesame. In both these figures the breech is represented as closed. Fig. 3is an elevation of the breech as detached'and drawn back, showing alsothe interior of the cap or side plate to the housing or breech-mortise.Fig. 4 is a cross-section at w w, Fig. 3, representingv thecartridge-'con- Veyer as ejecting a discharged metallic cartridge-caseand bringingv another cartridge into position. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectionthrough the rear end of the slidin g breech-.pin and stock at the line zz, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detached view of the breech-pin from the forwardend. Fig. 7 represents the side of the hannner next the gun; and Fig. 8is a section through the hammer at the line y y, Fig. 7.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

The nature of my said inv'ention consists in a lifting-block actin g tosustain the breech-pin against the explosion, said liftin g-blocksetting into notches in the body of the gun and being lifted by theaction of the hamnier in cockin g the piece, which inovement of thehammer is also employed for drawi'ng back the breechpin; and I eniploy amagazine containing car-` tridges, and convey one of such cartridges tothe line of the barrel as the breech is drawn back by a sliding conveyeractuated 'in a peculiar manner by a lever that is moved by the breech asit is slid back, and said'conveyer also dischargesthe cartridge-casefrom between tvfo Springs that are upon the breech-pin, and withdrawsaid case from the barrel.

In the drawing, a represents a portion of the barrel, which may be ofany desired size or character. b is the wooden stock, of any usualshape. c is the metallic body portion of thegun, uniting the barrel andstock, and forming a housing for the parts at the rear of the barrel.This body c is formed with straps 1, as usual, to connect the stock, andat one side is a Inov'able plate, c', (see Figs. 3 ,and 4,) by whichaccess is allowed to the parts of the gun.

The breech-pin d is fitted to slidein a 'recess to the rear and on linewith the barrel. TheI forward portion of this breech-pin is circnlar, asat 2, Figs. 3 and 6, while the rear portion is square, and' slidesbeneath the overhan gin g lips or flanges 3 3. (See Fig. 5.) Said lips3, however, do not extend forward of the notches that are provided in cand o' at 4 4 for the reception of the movable cross-block e. Thiscross-block e forms a T-head to the shank e', that occupies a grooverunning longitudinally of the breech-pin d,- and said breech-pin hasalso a crossnotch, as seen at 5, Fig. 3, into which the block e can dropwhen in the lposition shown in Fig. 1.

It is to be understood that when the breech is closed by the pin dsetting against the. rear end of the barrel the cross-block e will fallinto the notches at 4 and 5, and sustain' the breech-pin against theexplosion of a cartridge in the barrel', and that when the saidcrosscontained in the ring-fiange of the inetallicv cartridge-case g,(see Fi g. 1,) and the length of this punch is such that the closingdown the crbss-hlock e entirely shall drive said punch against thecartridge-case for its explosion. This block e ord'inarily, therefore,is not to be fully pressed down to its place, the pressing down beingetfectcd by a blow of the hammer, as next dcscribed, which causes thewedgeshaped projection 8 to drive the punch 'i forward.

On the side of the block e is a pin, 9, (see Figs. 3 and 6,) which isacted on by the hammer ZL. This hannner his to be actuated by anywell-known 01' desired lock, and a trigger is to be employed, as usual,to discharge the same. In the inner and forward edge of the groove k.

hammer is a groove, k, that terminates at .the

vide a spring-latch, m, near the upper end of this groove, (see Figs. 7and 8,) which, yielding as the hammer is discharged, passes the pin 9,so that said pin is received int-o the 011 reference to the dottedlines, Fig. 1, it will be seen that the angle at which this groove lostands to the breech-pin is such that as the hammer is cocked the blocke will first be lifted out of its notches 4 and 5, and

' the further mo'vement of the hammer will" draw the breech-pin d back,the pin g coming down intothe lower portion of the slot lc, so that whenthe hammer is cocked said pin 9 is opposite to the opening Z, so thatthe breechpin can be again pushed forward, the pin 9 passing out at thisopening I.

In order. to make the breech-pin self-acting as far as possible, so thatthe only motion is that of cockin g and firin g, I employ a spring, nbelow the breech-pin d, acted on by the pendent arm n' of thebreech-pin, so that said spring, being compressed -by the backwardmovement of the breech-pin, will send the breech-pin again forward sosoon as the pin 9 comes opposite the opening l in the hammer. Thecross-block c will descend ;into the notches' provided for it, and whenthe hammerh is discharged a projection, 10, thereonwill drive the blocke fully down to its place, and by the incline 8 project the plug andfire the piece. o

I will now describe the manner 'in which I combine with mybreech-loading mechanism a magazine containing cartridges.

A 10 is a pipe or tube in the stock of the gun. q is a tube containing aspring, q'., and follower r, The metallic-'case cartridges 8'8 are to bedropped ball end first into the tube p,

when the tube Q is withdrawn, after which the tube .q is again insertedand the .spring is compressed by the act of forcing in said tube,- thesaid tubeq passing around at the sides of the cartridges as pressed intoplace, as now usual, and the spring forces the cartridges forward, sothat the end one is taken by the conveyer o. This conveyer o is formedas seen in Figs' 1, 3, and 4, and slides in the body of the gun (c c')at right angles to the breech-pin, and is guided by a feather, 11,taking a groovein c. o This cartridge-conveyer is actuated bya lever, t,on a'fulcrum, 12, (see Figs 3 and 4,) in the cap-plate, c'. u is a toeonfthe lever t, behind which the end of the spring v sets when theconveyer o is elevated, as in Fig. 3, to hold said conveyer up; and wi's a projecting cam on the breech-pin d, that presses this lever tdown, together with the conveyer, as the breech-pin is pressed forwardby said cam w taking' against the parts 13 of lsaid lever t sufficientlyto throw the toe u the other side of the point of the sprin g o, so thatsaid spring acts to throw the conveyer o down;

but on the reverse movement, as the breechpin is drawn back, the inclineat 14, taking the roller 15 of the lever t, causes the said lever t toelevate the conveyer o, and a cartridge is carried up with it from themagazine to the line of the barrel, and the Shoulders at 16 on o, in sodoing, discharge the shell of the previous cartridge by lifting the sameup vertically from between spring-catches 17, that are provided at thesides of the breech-pin d, for drawing said ca'se back out of the barrelas the breech-pin is withdrawin It will now be understood that as thebreech-pin is withdrawn the conveyer o rises, carrying With it acartridge from the magazine, the pendant 18 keeping the other cartridgesback. The

Vbreech-pin then goes forward, the round end' I am aware that apiston-slide has been employed in connection with a carrier that bringsthe cartridge up from a magazine, as may be seen in the patent of H.Smith and D. B. Wesson, granted February 14, 1854. In this case,however, the piston-slide has projections on its end taking the flangeof the cartridge,

the parts being so fitted that the carrier forces the cartridge-case outfrom said projections and delivers a new cartridge between saidprojections, these movements being efi'ected by a lever.

In my fire-arm the movement of the breech,

giving motion to the carrier, renders it impossible for the breech toremain stationary while the carrier is elevated; hence I am obliged tomake use of 'spring-catches 17 to pass over the flange'of the cartridgeas the breech-pin goes forward, and I employ a separate punch to eX-plode the cartridge by the action of the hammer upon the cross-blockinstead o f the for- Ward movement of -the breech-pin itself.-

In my fire-arm there is but one movement performed by hand viz., cockingthe piecethe forward movement of the breech being self- Operating by theaction of the spring, while in fire-arms heretofore made the breech hasusually been opened by moving'a lever in one dil' rection and closed bythe reverse movement.

It will be seen that my breech is constructed so that all the parts areclosed tightly against the action of dampness,v and` for the exclusionof -dust and dirt. i

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1L7 The block e, formed as a'T-head to the shank c', and both occupyinggrooves in the,

ing into a groove in the breeeh-pn, in combi-I nation with a spring, tothrow said blockflown into place as the breeeh is closed, as set forth.

3. I olaim the slide exploding-punch, fitted as speoifie, and aotualtedby forcing thelsaid oross-biook down to its place, as set forth.

4. I ola-im construoting the hammer with the iateh end groove taking the`pin en the said eross-blook, as and for the purposes speeified.

5. I eiaim the combination of the hammer, the oroes-bioolgthebreeeh-pin, and the spring c'z, as speoified. Whereby .the said hammerlifts the sei cross-block an "mws back the breeeh' pin in the aot ofcoeking the piece, and the breech closes itself, as set forth.

6. I elaim the combination of the breeoh-'pin and slidingeartridge-conveyer with the lever t, aotuated substantially as and forthe purposes speoified.

In witnes whereof I have hereunto set my sign ature this 23d dayof'Decernber, 1864.

H. W. HAYDEN.

Witnesses THEoDoRE S. BUEL J. W. SMITH.

